It has been sought for a long time to synthesize novel compounds with a given odor, for use in the fragrance industry. The inspirational basis has often been natural products, on which attempts have been made to separate out the molecule(s) with olfactory properties.
In particular, the odor of sandalwood oil has been the subject of much research. After having identified the two main molecules that give natural sandalwood oil its odor, namely α-santalol and β-santalol, attempts were made to discover other molecules that might contribute to this odor. Attempts were also made to synthesize molecules that can reproduce this odor. The history of this research is reviewed in the article “The Chemistry of Sandalwood Fragrance—a Review of the Last Ten Years” by E.-J. Brunke et al., 15th Journées Int. Huiles Essentielles, Dignes-les-Bains, France, 5-7 Sep. 1996.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,229,600 relates to particular norbornane or norbornene derivatives that have the odor of sandalwood oil.
In the search for novel molecules, inspiration was drawn, of course, from the structures of known molecules, but experience has shown that the result was often random. Mention may be made, for example, of the article mentioned above in which is described a structure/odor correlation model, immediately followed by a counterexample, a molecule synthesized according to this model, but which does not have the expected odor. This same article cites a certain number of molecules of similar structure but whose olfactory properties are different, some having an odor, and others not.
Thus, there is no systematic method for designing a molecule as a function of the desired odor, from known molecules, via the implementation of logical and reproducible steps.